“Conservation was always at the heart of the competition, along with the fact that people seemed to enjoy images of animals doing entertaining things!” said Sullam in a statement.

“But essentially, living in a country that has some of the best wildlife in the world – Tanzania – and seeing how destructive human actions can be to this wildlife, made us want to do our little bit to help.”

Some of the top photographs are of a gurning gorilla, a hare standing to attention, A pelican losing its lunch; an elephant falling on its face and a meerkat having a rough day.

Here are two of the finalists from 2016.

An image of a fox taking a dive. Photo: www.comedywildlifephoto.com

'Not only is he sitting on me'. Photo: www.comedywildlifephoto.com

Hicks and Sullam have also complied a book with a full gallery of the best of the entries.

The winners for 2017 will be announced on December 14.

You can click on the image box above for the full gallery of the Wildlife Photography Awards finalists.